When Bethany Albert was home at her parents' house in Tacoma, Wash. for the holidays, she came home on Christmas Eve to a surprise.
"I walked in the house, not expecting my sister to seize me and start exclaiming that Mr. Bingley had returned to Netherfield at last."
"I was surprised, as the first photo indicates, but I caught on pretty quickly," she told BuzzFeed in an email.
While another sister took photographs, a third sister began putting Bethany into a Regency dress.
David Slater, Bethany's friend of five years and boyfriend of ten months, was hiding in a closet nearby, dressed as Mr. Darcy. "We met swing dancing at the University of Washington."
"One by one more and more family members joined the scenes. David took the script directly from the text of the book. My family did rehearsals in secret."
"I laughed a lot, but everyone else managed to stay in character for half an hour until the actual proposal scene."
Bethany's family recreated half an hour of scenes from Pride and Prejudice.
Bethany's parents were Mr. and Mrs. Bennett.
Bethany and her father recreated the scene between Lizzie and Mr. Bennett.
Eventually, Bethany, David, and their family moved outside the house.
And her Mr. Darcy proposed to his Lizzie in her neighbor's backyard.
"David first declared his feelings for me on Christmas Eve, 2010," Bethany said in an email, "when he showed up unannounced on my family's doorstep with a book box he had carved with an exacto-knife (it was filled with chocolate and pipe tobacco)..."
"I turned him down, but for each subsequent Christmas Eve there was a literature-related gift to me from him."
"Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books. I loved that it involved family; my sisters, parents, his sister, brother-in-law, nieces... It was so special to interact with them and exchange knowing smiles during the production."
"I was an English literature major, so he figured books would be a good way to my heart..."
Bethany and David are planning an August wedding and will have the same anniversary as Bethany's parents and grandparents.
